8 people to watch during the Falcons' season of 'Hard Knocks'

The Atlanta Falcons announced Thursday that they will be featured team on the 2014 version of the HBO documentary series Hard Knocks, which will chronicle the team from training camp through the preseason. While the NFL had the ability to force one of eight possible teams to appear on the show if they didn’t find a volunteer, the Falcons did not fit that criteria, meaning that they agreed to do the series of their own volition.

While each of the six teams to previously appear on the show (the Cowboys and Bengals have been on twice) has their own story, there are usually some common storylines. The underdog rookie free agent trying to make the team. The veteran either fighting for his job or joining the team. The star suffering from an injury and so on.

With that in mind, here are the eight people we think HBO’s cameras would be wise to focus on when filming starts next month.

1) Arthur Blank

(Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports)

The Home Depot co-founder has been a steady presence since purchasing the Falcons in 2002, leaving personnel decisions to his team’s football operations staff but also remaining a visible figure around the team. He probably won’t command the cameras the way Jerry Jones did in the past, but look for some of Blank’s team-related philanthropic causes to get some attention during the show.

2) Julio Jones

(Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports)

The star receiver only played five games for the team last season after a serious foot injury. He’s just recently started running on it again and his ability to return to the field at 100 percent by Week 1 will likely be one of the show’s key storylines.

3) William Moore

The Falcons strong safety is the team’s resident rapper. During their 2012 NFC South title season, Moore and a handful of his teammates in the locker room’s “D-Block” spit lyrics on YouTube during a number of “Freestyle Fridays” videos. There weren’t as many during the disappointing 4-12 campaign in 2013, but hopefully Moore will resurrect the practice for HBO’s cameras.

4) Thomas Dimitroff

(Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports)

One of the NFL’s most stylish general managers, the two-time NFL executive of the year got plenty of on the job training working alongside Bill Belichick and Scott Pioli in the Patriots scouting department for six seasons. Thankfully for HBO, Dimitroff, whose been with the Falcons since 2008, seems to like talking to the press a little more than his former bosses.

5) Bryan Cox

The defensive line coach was one of the NFL’s most fiery players, once giving an entire stadium full of Bills fans the middle finger while playing for the Dolphins. As the above video from his tenure as a Bucs coach shows, he’s still got a little spark in him.

6) Sean Weatherspoon

(AP Photo/John Bazemore)

The linebacker and defensive captain was rehabbing the knee injury that ended his 2013 season when he tore his Achilles in a workout Tuesday, ending his 2014 season well before it even started. Weatherspoon’s presence (or lack thereof) while his team figures out how to replace him in the lineup will get some attention on the show.

7) Geraldo Boldewijn

(AP Photo/Times-News, Drew Nash)

The show always finds at least one longshot rookie to shadow as he attempts to make the team. The 6’4″ undrafted free agent receiver from Boise State seems like a likely possibility this season. Boldewijn is a Dutch native who came to Idaho for his senior year of high school as an exchange student, playing football in hopes of earning an American college scholarship. Boldewijn was suspended several times in college for eligibility issues resulting from gifts from his host family, sitting four games in 2012 for accepting help from them in booking a flight home to Holland.

8) Paul Soliai

(Robert Mayer – USA TODAY Sports)

The Falcons signed the massive 6’4″, 340-pound nose tackle as a free agent from Miami this offseason to try to solidify the team’s run defense, which ranked 31st in the NFL in 2013. How the big man adapts to the team will be one storyline, as will any attempt by the coaches to pair him as a mentor with rookie second-round pick Ra’Shede Hageman, a fellow defensive lineman who could end up playing the same position or next to him at defensive end.

The Atlanta Falcons will be featured on the 2014 edition of HBO’s ‘Hard Knocks.’ These eight people will likely (…)

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